


On the Edge of Something Extraordinary

by Kingshammer



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Deciding Who You Want to Be, Family, Friendship, Pre-Battle Pep Talks, at the moment at least, trimberly if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 11:45:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14043579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kingshammer/pseuds/Kingshammer
Summary: An expansion of Jason's call to arms in the stadium. In essence, why I think the Rangers were motivated to fight Rita after and in spite of her attack on Trini.





	On the Edge of Something Extraordinary

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I hope you're well. This is one of my favorite scenes from the movie and this fic is essentially my head-canon for why, despite their apparent lack of progress as a team, the Rangers decide to fight. This is my first fic for this fandom.
> 
> I'm definitely a Trimberly shipper, which is why they get just a little more exposition than anyone else. At the moment, my intent is to leave this as a one-shot, but hey, who knows what the future holds. Hope you enjoy.
> 
> (I own nothing and benefit in no fiscal way from Saban's Power Rangers! The dialogue here comes straight from the film (spoiler alert there I suppose).)

The exasperated disbelief is nearly tangible it's so thick in the air. Because Jason's just proposed the insane; the impossible. An unwinnable fight. And who ever does  _that_ on purpose?

Trini glances back over her shoulder and catches Kim's eye for a split second. There's a moment of telepathy: s _urely_ _he's not serious? Are you in on this?_

Kim glances away quickly, back to Jason, because only he can answer if he means it.

"Are you serious? No one?" Now he's the one in exasperated disbelief. Trini can't stop the words that spring forth.

"Jason, we're not even Power Ranger's yet," she says, as though he has voluntarily abandoned logic. She can't help her incredulity, because wasn't he  _listening_? Rita  _is_ real, and she  _is_ crazy. Rita is devastatingly strong, stronger than all of them.  _Or maybe I'm just weaker than they are,_ Trini thinks to herself. Trini suppressed a shudder as the memory of Rita claws tearing through her skin and her tongue touching her face come unbidden into her mind. She blinks hard, once, focusing on Jason again. There's time for  _that_ later she reasons.

It's easy to believe it's all a lie. Zordon owes them nothing and had been unenthusiastic about the Coins' selection since he was aware of it. Really, they should've suspected it from the beginning. Because really, when has anybody they've met recently decided they were worth something? Trini's parents can't abide who she is and people don't even know when she's in the room. Kim's father yells at her public departure from her carefully cultivated status quo appearance and people she's known her whole life want her dead, or worse. Jason is the let-down whose value was only ever measured in his ability to throw a football. Billy was too strange to be approached as a person, but just strange enough to be a perfect target. And Zack was regarded as directionless, apathetic, and absent by anyone who thought they knew (of) him. They weren't Power Rangers; Zordon could do it better. It's easy, in that moment, to feel like a failure. Trini's eyes are drawn to the ground.

Kim looks up and away, biting her tongue at the audacity of it all. Because wasn't life cruel enough already? It wasn't enough they were changed against their will, but now they had to die too? Because the image of those gouges in Trini's neck were forever seared in Kim's mind; to face Rita, as they were, would be painful death. They would give no heroic sacrifice. Just offer themselves up as the first in a violent massacre. All because some bloody set of glowing rocks chose them; how was  _that_ fair?

"We're  _all_ screw ups," Jason's voice cuts like wire and the truth  _hurts._ Kim can't help the but look at him, her face colored in shock and maybe a hint of outrage. Because she can feel what's coming. She knows what Jason's about to try to do, because he understands them. He understands what pulls them all together.

"And as much as I hate this scrubby, bullshit town, I don't want to just sit around and watch it die, okay? Let's go and do the  _one_  thing that's been asked of us and kill Rita," he says, letting the words hang in the air.  And they resonate, because it’s the most honest sentiment anyone can remember hearing in that scrubby, bullshit town.

Because for  _once_  in the last ten days, no one is invoking destiny. No one is espousing, "great power, great responsibility,". No one is shouting about Ranger tradition, or duty, or nonsense about some buried crystal. Fighting, killing, Rita, isn't about being Power Rangers. 

It's about doing it because for some short-straw reason they've been asked to. And maybe (if they at least try, because there's no way they win), Kim can feel redeemed. Trini can remember that she's worthy of love. Zack can feel like he is enough. Billy can belong without exception. And Jason will have chosen his own way. Everything and everyone else in their lives tries to tell them that they are a bitch, an abnormality, a failure, a freak, and a disappointment. And maybe now is a chance for them each to say something about themselves.

It isn't about saving the scrubby, bullshit town; it's about saving themselves. It's about deciding. It's about choosing each other. Because they all drew the same, super short straw.

The half gasp/ half chuckle squeezes itself out of Kim's chest and she doesn't have the desire to stop it.

"You know this is a really bad idea right?" The words aren't intended as a deterrent when they come out. Just an acknowledgement of their collective departure from sense. Because already Kim can feel it, the change in the air around them. It isn't exasperated disbelief anymore. It's mildly hopeful resignation.

"The worst." Well excellent, at least Jason knows, and so does everybody. He's still, so resolutely, serious.

"Let's vote; show of hands," Jason's voice is full of conviction. There's no fear there, in that moment, the mantel of Leader becomes his. Becomes him.

And Trini, sparing only a second on deliberation, letting herself feel that terrible burn of pain in her neck and shoulder, raises her good hand. And with it, her mouth twists in a small, sad, defiant smirk. Because yes, they'll probably all die, and she knows better than all of them. But for once, she's going to choose who she will be.

Kim is only a moment behind her, arm springing to the air without any hesitation left. Because yeah, maybe she's a bitch with impulse control issues who burns bridges without a second thought. But maybe a bitch willing to run into a fight alongside new friends who know her more in ten days than the old ones did in years is exactly who she wants to be.

Kim feels Trini's eyes on her and allows her attention to switch to the other girl. There, in her eyes, in that moment, is a deepest sense of connection she's felt to another person ever. She lets her mouth curve into a smile.

Trini's smirk and sad eyes ask  _are you sure? We're probably going to lose. Definitely going to die._

Kim lets her lingering eyes respond  _I never do anything I'm sure about. But I want to do this. Here, now. With you._

The hands go up in the circle around them. 

Jason  _is_ a leader and he would rather die now, choosing his friends (because Jason always chooses his friends) and their burden, than abandon them to isolated, lonely deaths, as Rita undoubtedly hunts them down.

And it's not the Power Rangers raising them. It's Trini, Kim, Jason, Zack, and Billy deciding together, that they're going to do something for themselves, together. And for a moment, there is a flare of collective emotion. It is devotion and love, but it's only a flash and gone in a blink. But it's enough catalyst to transform their silent declarations of intent into forward motion.

Zack's hand goes up, because they have never asked him for anything. They've taken him as he is, and here, among them, he feels steady and sure of all he is, and all he is not, and the knowledge doesn't leave him feeling empty. It makes him feel alive.

And Billy's hand. Billy, the most hesitant, but the most faithful. Billy believes in them, and no matter how isolated others have made him feel, wants nothing more than the connection he feels now. Every intellectual fiber in him screams in protest, but he raises his hand because they are what he wants.

Jason doesn't look at his team, he looks at his friends. He nods and set his shoulders.

"Let's do it."

He turns to jog away, and knows they follow.


End file.
